Three Army officers are under investigation for divulging strategic information about the location of several battalion on a series of sex chats on Facebook

Sources told the Times of India that a colonel, at the Army War College in Mhow, a major from the Rajput Regiment and a lieutenant from the Ordnance Corps have been found prima facie guilty of giving out parts of the ORBAT (order of battle) in clear violation of laid-down security protocols.

"It looks like an online honey-trap since they were lured into the chats by a person posing as an attractive woman, who had posted suggestive pictures, on Facebook. The officers were having sexually explicit chats with the person, who in exchange often asked them specific information about the location of units and brigades," the Times of India was told.

This isn't the first such instance. The Indian Express reported last month that intelligence agencies detected an elaborate effort on the part of foreign intelligence networks to gather information about the Order of Battle (ORBAT) of key military units by trying to lure defence officers through friendship on social media sites.

A salient instance was the fake name ‘Simran Chaudhary’, who along with a fake photograph, apparently enticed some Army officers into conversations and friendship. After befriending these officers, the profile holder then went on to ask the details of various units under the many frontline brigades of the Army.